Mahasamadhi through Yoga Nidra
Throughout the next 34 years, Sri Swamiji took his mission all across the world. This was a very rare move amongst a yogi. He taught very openly and freely to devotees across the world. He found many ashrams and is still establishing many ashrams. Throughout these years he was also put into tapas from time to time by Lord Shiva for the peace of the world.
In 1991, Sri Swamiji’s body and health rapidly deteriorated. Soon his kidneys shutdown and dialysis became a requisite for the next couple of years. On April 2nd 1994, Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj entered Mahasamadhi through Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) in Adivarapupeta. This left millions of devotee’s around the world devasted. Many worried and asked “What next?” Now many people wondered to the assurance Sri Swamiji made a month earlier, that he would be with his devotees for at least 40 more years and that he still had much work to do in the world.
In 1991, Sri Swamiji’s body and health rapidly deteriorated. Soon his kidneys shutdown and dialysis became a requisite for the next couple of years. On April 2nd 1994, Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj entered Mahasamadhi through Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) in Adivarapupeta. This left millions of devotee’s around the world devasted. Many worried and asked “What next?” Now many people wondered to the assurance Sri Swamiji made a month earlier, that he would be with his devotees for at least 40 more years and that he still had much work to do in the world.
The Living Yogi
As Sri Swamiji continued his mission after his tapas completion, often he would enter the body of a devotee through Bhava to convey messages and teachings and give darshan. After the Mahasamadhi, Sri Swamiji through Bhava, relayed messages clearly stating that a Yogi does not die, and although he has shed his physical form, he would remain with us for at least 40 more years.
From the time after the Mahasamadhi, Sri Swmaiji manifested predominantly upon 3 devotees. They were R.B Singh, Ms. K. Yashoda and M.P Singh. It is with M.P Singh where Sri Swamiji chose to continue his physical presence for the next 40 years or more. It is from here that we tell you, the reader, how Sri Swamiji prepared and merged into the body of M.P Singh to continue on his mission without a pause. When Sri Swamiji was in his original body, he first came in “power” into M.P. Singh in 1982, when he sat in tapas through this devotee for seven days. M.P. Singh had been introduced to Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj by his wife Veena, who was Sri Chauhan’s daughter.
Sri Shivabalayogi in 1982 was forty-seven years old, in good health, and still twelve years away from his mahasamadhi. Even then, M.P. Singh figured in Sri Swamiji’s plans for the future and wished ardently to become the vehicle for Swamiji’s service in any way possible. Swamiji also began to give guidance through M.P. Singh to one of his oldest devotees, Suresh Chandra Sharma. Swamiji also guided Sri Sharma to give reciprocal messages to M.P. Singh. Based on messages Swamiji gave Sri Sharma in meditation, the latter in 1994 sent letters to devotees in Agra and Farrukhabad stating that Swamiji had chosen M.P. Singh to carry on his message in the world during the times to come. The proof of Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj continuing his physical presence is in these letters. Swamiji was very amused when he was still in his original body to be simultaneously in power in M.P. Singh’s body. He laughing says, “I would be there across the room looking at myself”.
The training continued after the first experiences in 1982. M.P. Singh wrote down all the instructions Swamiji was giving him in “power,” or bhava, both orally and in writing. Swamiji told M.P. Singh how to sit in dhyan and under what conditions, what food to eat, and so on. For example, the doors were to be closed, no other persons could enter the room, there were dietary restrictions, etc. These restrictions included the injunction that a yogi could eat no more than four chapatis. Also, no tea could be drunk for a year and no salt taken with food for three months.
As years passed, M.P. Singh continued to work privately under Swamiji’s direction and through Swamiji’s spiritual presence. Then one day in 1992, only two years before his mahasamadhi, Swamiji gave a message to M.P. Singh that he wanted him to sit in tapas for forty-five days. Swamiji told him that, simultaneously, he would be sitting in tapas in his own body in Bangalore, but as his health was declining rapidly, he would also be pursuing the yogic practices of physical rejuvenation known as kaya kalpa.
Swamiji, coming in power as was his custom, dictated written instructions to M.P. Singh for tapas, which included a trip to bathe in the Ganges, the most sacred river of India. At this point, M.P. Singh and his wife Veena, along with Sri Chauhan and the couple’s children, traveled to Swamiji in Bangalore to confirm the messages about the forty-five-day tapas and to assure themselves that all the instructions they had been guided to follow were correct. M.P. Singh asked Swamiji in Bangalore what should be done about the instructions to commence tapas. Swamiji asked, “Tumko kono taqleef?” or, “Do you have any problems with that message?” M.P. Singh replied, “No, Swamiji, no problems.” Swamiji told M.P. Singh to go ahead and do what he had been instructed. He added that on the last day before leaving Bangalore, M.P. Singh should talk further to Swamiji about the forty-five-day tapas. On the last day, Swamiji called M.P. Singh and Sri Chauhan to his room along with Yashoda, who was one of his elder devotees at the Bangalore ashram. Swamiji gave orders to Yashoda to provide M.P. Singh with five packets of vibhuti and five dhotis to wear during tapas. After M.P. Singh returned to Agra, he traveled to Farruqhabad, where Sri Shivabalayogi again came in power into M.P. Singh’s body and gave instructions to Sri Chauhan to shave his head in the style of a mendicant. Sri Chauhan was then to travel with M.P. Singh and Veena to the Ganges at Farruqhabad, where she would ritually donate her husband to the holy river, thus ending their husband-wife relationship. The couple’s two sons also would be making the trip to the Ganges.
Swamiji also gave instructions that no one should indicate whom M.P. Singh was, so that no relatives would come to disturb his tapas and future life. Swamiji instructed further that construction of the boundary wall of the Agra ashram was to start on the first day of the tapas from 2,008 bricks to be donated by Veena and that the wall must be completed by the last day of tapas. The wall was in fact completed by that time. Swamiji had already come to Veena in a dream and told her that she would be expected to donate 2,008 bricks and to give away her husband as well. She donated the bricks on November 12, 1992, then traveled with her husband to the great mother of rivers, the Ganges. There, in the company of her family, she took the sacred oath renouncing the marital relationship with M.P. Singh and relinquished him to the river, which now became his spiritual mother. On the next day, November 13, the party returned to Agra, and, again acting in power through M.P. Singh, Swamiji gave instructions to construct a tapas hut at the center of the ashram grounds. There were no other buildings on the ashram site at this time. On November 14, the kutia, or straw hut, was completed by the Agra devotees. It was very cold during this season in northern India.
Nevertheless, on November 15, at 12:02 p.m., M.P. Singh took off his dhoti, put on a yogi’s loincloth, approached the wooden dais in the center of the hut, and sat to commence tapas. The kutia was made in three parts: one for dhyan, the second for giving darshan to devotees, and the third to serve as a private rest chamber. M.P. Singh sat in dhyan from five a.m. to five p.m. every day, and after taking some rest and his bath, gave darshan to devotees. He was allowed only one glass of cow’s milk each day between two and three a.m. A homa pit six feet deep and equally long and wide was dug in front of the kutia. Devotees who came during the five a.m. to five p.m. dhyan could offer wood and fruits to the homa fire with prayers they wished to be fulfilled. No clothing or flowers were allowed to be placed in the homa fire. Through this ritual action, thousands of devotees received what they prayed for. On the last day of tapas, December 30, 1992, thousands of devotees bathed M.P. Singh with cold water. But not a drop of water flowed out of the kutia, and no one could find where all the water went.
On the last day of M.P. Singh’s earlier stay at Bangalore, Swamiji had instructed him to return there after completing the forty-five day tapas at the Agra ashram. When M.P. Singh returned to Bangalore on January 2, 1993, Sri Shivabalayogi was in the state of bhava. He had already told one of his devotees, D. Jagadish Kumar, that M.P. Singh was coming and would be tired and hungry after his three-day journey. A room had been prepared and was waiting, and Swamiji sent some fruits for M.P. Singh through D. Jagadish Kumar. After some rest, M.P. Singh was called by Swamiji to the meditation hall, who asked him to sit on the dais in the room. But M.P. Singh refused to sit on the dais, saying that his place was on the floor. Then Swamiji introduced M.P. Singh to all the devotees. Afterwards, Swamiji took M.P. Singh to his sleeping chamber and for two hours gave him detailed and confidential instructions for the life he was to follow, further details about tapas, and advice on the daily routine he was to adopt.
From the time after the Mahasamadhi, Sri Swmaiji manifested predominantly upon 3 devotees. They were R.B Singh, Ms. K. Yashoda and M.P Singh. It is with M.P Singh where Sri Swamiji chose to continue his physical presence for the next 40 years or more. It is from here that we tell you, the reader, how Sri Swamiji prepared and merged into the body of M.P Singh to continue on his mission without a pause. When Sri Swamiji was in his original body, he first came in “power” into M.P. Singh in 1982, when he sat in tapas through this devotee for seven days. M.P. Singh had been introduced to Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj by his wife Veena, who was Sri Chauhan’s daughter.
Sri Shivabalayogi in 1982 was forty-seven years old, in good health, and still twelve years away from his mahasamadhi. Even then, M.P. Singh figured in Sri Swamiji’s plans for the future and wished ardently to become the vehicle for Swamiji’s service in any way possible. Swamiji also began to give guidance through M.P. Singh to one of his oldest devotees, Suresh Chandra Sharma. Swamiji also guided Sri Sharma to give reciprocal messages to M.P. Singh. Based on messages Swamiji gave Sri Sharma in meditation, the latter in 1994 sent letters to devotees in Agra and Farrukhabad stating that Swamiji had chosen M.P. Singh to carry on his message in the world during the times to come. The proof of Sri Sri Sri Shivabalayogi Maharaj continuing his physical presence is in these letters. Swamiji was very amused when he was still in his original body to be simultaneously in power in M.P. Singh’s body. He laughing says, “I would be there across the room looking at myself”.
The training continued after the first experiences in 1982. M.P. Singh wrote down all the instructions Swamiji was giving him in “power,” or bhava, both orally and in writing. Swamiji told M.P. Singh how to sit in dhyan and under what conditions, what food to eat, and so on. For example, the doors were to be closed, no other persons could enter the room, there were dietary restrictions, etc. These restrictions included the injunction that a yogi could eat no more than four chapatis. Also, no tea could be drunk for a year and no salt taken with food for three months.
As years passed, M.P. Singh continued to work privately under Swamiji’s direction and through Swamiji’s spiritual presence. Then one day in 1992, only two years before his mahasamadhi, Swamiji gave a message to M.P. Singh that he wanted him to sit in tapas for forty-five days. Swamiji told him that, simultaneously, he would be sitting in tapas in his own body in Bangalore, but as his health was declining rapidly, he would also be pursuing the yogic practices of physical rejuvenation known as kaya kalpa.
Swamiji, coming in power as was his custom, dictated written instructions to M.P. Singh for tapas, which included a trip to bathe in the Ganges, the most sacred river of India. At this point, M.P. Singh and his wife Veena, along with Sri Chauhan and the couple’s children, traveled to Swamiji in Bangalore to confirm the messages about the forty-five-day tapas and to assure themselves that all the instructions they had been guided to follow were correct. M.P. Singh asked Swamiji in Bangalore what should be done about the instructions to commence tapas. Swamiji asked, “Tumko kono taqleef?” or, “Do you have any problems with that message?” M.P. Singh replied, “No, Swamiji, no problems.” Swamiji told M.P. Singh to go ahead and do what he had been instructed. He added that on the last day before leaving Bangalore, M.P. Singh should talk further to Swamiji about the forty-five-day tapas. On the last day, Swamiji called M.P. Singh and Sri Chauhan to his room along with Yashoda, who was one of his elder devotees at the Bangalore ashram. Swamiji gave orders to Yashoda to provide M.P. Singh with five packets of vibhuti and five dhotis to wear during tapas. After M.P. Singh returned to Agra, he traveled to Farruqhabad, where Sri Shivabalayogi again came in power into M.P. Singh’s body and gave instructions to Sri Chauhan to shave his head in the style of a mendicant. Sri Chauhan was then to travel with M.P. Singh and Veena to the Ganges at Farruqhabad, where she would ritually donate her husband to the holy river, thus ending their husband-wife relationship. The couple’s two sons also would be making the trip to the Ganges.
Swamiji also gave instructions that no one should indicate whom M.P. Singh was, so that no relatives would come to disturb his tapas and future life. Swamiji instructed further that construction of the boundary wall of the Agra ashram was to start on the first day of the tapas from 2,008 bricks to be donated by Veena and that the wall must be completed by the last day of tapas. The wall was in fact completed by that time. Swamiji had already come to Veena in a dream and told her that she would be expected to donate 2,008 bricks and to give away her husband as well. She donated the bricks on November 12, 1992, then traveled with her husband to the great mother of rivers, the Ganges. There, in the company of her family, she took the sacred oath renouncing the marital relationship with M.P. Singh and relinquished him to the river, which now became his spiritual mother. On the next day, November 13, the party returned to Agra, and, again acting in power through M.P. Singh, Swamiji gave instructions to construct a tapas hut at the center of the ashram grounds. There were no other buildings on the ashram site at this time. On November 14, the kutia, or straw hut, was completed by the Agra devotees. It was very cold during this season in northern India.
Nevertheless, on November 15, at 12:02 p.m., M.P. Singh took off his dhoti, put on a yogi’s loincloth, approached the wooden dais in the center of the hut, and sat to commence tapas. The kutia was made in three parts: one for dhyan, the second for giving darshan to devotees, and the third to serve as a private rest chamber. M.P. Singh sat in dhyan from five a.m. to five p.m. every day, and after taking some rest and his bath, gave darshan to devotees. He was allowed only one glass of cow’s milk each day between two and three a.m. A homa pit six feet deep and equally long and wide was dug in front of the kutia. Devotees who came during the five a.m. to five p.m. dhyan could offer wood and fruits to the homa fire with prayers they wished to be fulfilled. No clothing or flowers were allowed to be placed in the homa fire. Through this ritual action, thousands of devotees received what they prayed for. On the last day of tapas, December 30, 1992, thousands of devotees bathed M.P. Singh with cold water. But not a drop of water flowed out of the kutia, and no one could find where all the water went.
On the last day of M.P. Singh’s earlier stay at Bangalore, Swamiji had instructed him to return there after completing the forty-five day tapas at the Agra ashram. When M.P. Singh returned to Bangalore on January 2, 1993, Sri Shivabalayogi was in the state of bhava. He had already told one of his devotees, D. Jagadish Kumar, that M.P. Singh was coming and would be tired and hungry after his three-day journey. A room had been prepared and was waiting, and Swamiji sent some fruits for M.P. Singh through D. Jagadish Kumar. After some rest, M.P. Singh was called by Swamiji to the meditation hall, who asked him to sit on the dais in the room. But M.P. Singh refused to sit on the dais, saying that his place was on the floor. Then Swamiji introduced M.P. Singh to all the devotees. Afterwards, Swamiji took M.P. Singh to his sleeping chamber and for two hours gave him detailed and confidential instructions for the life he was to follow, further details about tapas, and advice on the daily routine he was to adopt.